Zwint is a promising therapeutic biomarker associated with the immune microenvironment of hepatocellular carcinoma

Abstract

Background: The prognosis of patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is still poor, effective therapeutic targets are needed. ZW10 interacting kinetochore protein (Zwint) is an essential component of the mitotic spindle checkpoint and is upregulated in cancers. Disappointing, the role of ZWINT in HCC has not been fully illuminated. Methods: Multiple tools, including TIMER2.0, Oncomine, GEPIA2, UALCAN, LinkedOmics, Kaplan–Meier Plotter, cBioPortal, and MethSurv, etc. were applied to com-prehensively analyze the expression, genetic alternations, clinicopathological relevance, prognostic value, and DNA methylation of ZWINT, along with its correlations with immune infiltration in HCC. Besides, gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) and protein–protein interaction (PPI) analysis were performed for the correlated genes of ZWINT, closely interconnected clusters and hub proteins in the PPI network were discovered to learn the under-lying biological mechanisms. Results: We found ZWINT was significantly upregulated in diverse cancers including HCC, compared with the corresponding normal controls. ZWINT upregulation was significantly associated with unfavorable clinicopathological features and survivals of HCC patients. Genetic alternations of ZWINT frequently occurred, which were linked to worse outcomes of HCC patients. The results of GSEA displayed ZWINT and its correlated genes might be components of condensed chromosomes and spindles, which participated in biological processes and signaling pathways involving DNA replication, cytokinesis, and cell cycle checkpoint, etc. Three highly interconnected clusters and 10 hub proteins were identified from the PPI network constructed with the correlated genes of ZWINT. Moreover, ZWINT expression was found positively correlated with infiltration levels of various immune cells, especially myeloid-derived suppressor cells. Conclusion: This study demonstrated ZWINT might be a promising unfavorable prognostic biomarker and a therapeutic target of HCC, which could regulate HCC progression through cell division and immunosuppression.